Successful company leaders empower their people to execute their company’s mission and then hold them accountable to do so. That’s the essence of a new book titled, “Vital Factors: The Secret to Transforming Your Business – And Your Life.” The book’s co-author Lee Froschheiser, who is the chief executive officer and president of Management Action Programs (MAP) Inc. in Sherman Oaks, Calif., will be the keynote speaker at the Wisconsin Business & Technology Expo on Wednesday, May 2. (www.biztimes.com/expo) Froschheiser was recently interviewed over the phone by SBT executive editor Steve Jagler. The following are excerpts from that interview.
SBT: What kind of reaction are you getting about the book?Froschheiser: “It’s been real positive. People can use some of these principles that we’ve been teaching businesses for 46 years, and maybe make their lives a little simpler. We’re running into that.”
SBT: The subtitle to your book is “The Secret to Transforming Your Business – And Your Life.” That’s a big claim. As you’ve gone out on the road with your book, can you give me three things that really seem to be resonating with businesspeople?Froschheiser: “Well, I’ll tell you what I think the three are. The three things that really resonate with people are empowerment and how to be an empowering leader. The second one that really resonates with people is focusing on your Vital Factors, and what’s that mean and what’s that look like in life. And the third one is learning how to be an accountable leader, meaning learning how to hold people accountable and create passion through accountability.
“You know, there’s a reason we used that subtitle, because one of the things that was a key learning for us when we wrote this book was how people, when they talked about their experience with MAP, they talked about how it not only transformed their business, but also made a big difference in their life. Business lives and personal lives are intertwined in today’s world. A lot of the things people do wrong in their business they do wrong in their personal lives.”
SBT: Can you give me a couple examples of that?Froschheiser: “That’s an easy one. Accountability – I’ll talk about my neighbor. She’s convinced I’ve become her personal coach now in life. She runs a boutique shop. One day, she’s out there, and she’s telling me, ‘You know, I’m always the last one to leave, and my employees don’t do this and don’t do that, and I’ve got to do everything.’ And she’s the exact same person who says to her son 23 times, ‘Honey, go clean your room. Go clean your room.’ And then she ends up cleaning his room. She didn’t hold Timmy accountable.
“Another one is the delegation piece. You know, we have a chapter in there about business people wearing the ‘Big Red S’ (as in Superman, and the executive who believes he or she must do everything to have it done well), and people at home, they’re going to try to do everything. They’re going to be super managers. They don’t hold people accountable. They don’t delegate. They figure that their worth in their company is that they are really, really busy and making sure that they have a whole lot of activities. And then they try to do the same thing at home. What happens is, they get overwhelmed.”
SBT: As you can imagine, I get dozens of business books thrown at me to review. One of the unique things I found about your book is the personal, interactive section at the end of the book, that people can fill in themselves.Froschheiser: “Right. We wanted it to be a lesson. I’m glad that you said that.”
SBT: Your book doesn’t just feature words of wisdom. It gives some real-world examples with real businesspeople.Froschheiser: “You’re right. It’s the interactive process. You know, people expose themselves in this book. These are stories that are pretty personal. It was an amazing process.”
SBT: One of the lines in your book is a reference about how effective leaders don’t spend most of their time telling people what to do. Instead, they create a system that empowers people to understand and execute the company’s mission statement. Is that a core principle of your book – empowering people and then holding them accountable?Froschheiser: “The essence is to get people to understand what the right things to work on are, and empower them and train them and coach them. And when I give my speech in Milwaukee, I’m going to talk about empowerment, and what goes into empowerment. And then, you’re right. You’ve got to hold people accountable.
“I can go into companies and ask employees, ‘Do you feel empowered?’ And a lot of times, they’ll say, ‘No, I don’t feel empowered.’ As a leader, empowerment doesn’t mean they (employees) get to run amuck. As a leader, empowerment is that you train and develop and they understand that this is what I need to work on, and I’m going to be held accountable on this. It takes a lot of energy to tell people what to be doing all the time.
“I like to use the analogy of a buffalo herd and a gaggle of geese. I go fly-fishing up in Montana all the time, right in the heart of Yellowstone National Park, and there’s always buffalo herds there. If you ever watch a buffalo herd, a buffalo herd truly does have one lead buffalo. Where the lead buffalo goes, that’s where the herd goes. That’s why the buffalo hunters could wipe out so many buffaloes. They’d find the lead buffalo, they’d shoot it, and the rest of them would all stand around, waiting for the lead buffalo to move. And what happens in companies when the leader is always telling people what to do, is you become a buffalo herd. When the leader’s not there, guess what? Nothing happens. What you really want is an organization where there’s empowerment, and you become that gaggle of geese, where, when the lead goose gets tired and falls back, the next one takes the lead. And you don’t have that in an organization if you don’t have empowerment. So, you’re right on.”
SBT: As the baby boom generation ages and is replaced by a much smaller generation, finding and keeping the right people becomes critical for businesses. In a recent survey by your company, you describe the process of “on-boarding” new employees. Could you expand on that?Froschheiser: “Here’s what’s important about ‘on-boarding.’ First off, you spend a lot of time, energy and money in finding the right person. And when you find the right person, where you can really mess it up as a company is by bringing them into the company in the wrong way. People want to feel that they’re working for someone who really cares about them and is really going to help them grow and develop. So, you put structure to that on-boarding process. Structure includes that when they come on board, they know exactly what they’ve got to learn to be effective in their job. You make sure you have a training plan, a series of activities that are going to expose them to what they need to learn.
“A lot of times, with companies, it’s, ‘OK, here’s your phone and your desk. Good luck. See you in a month or two.’ Then people don’t feel welcomed into an organization. You know, especially young people today. I come across a lot of young people that are much more aggressive today. They’re smarter, because they’ve grown up with technology that we didn’t have growing up. They expect more from companies. They’re less loyal to companies. They know that the jobs are out there. So when you really get someone special, you’ve to wrap your arms around them and say, ‘We’re going to make you successful at our company.'”
SBT: Based on the young people I’ve got on my staff, I’m very bullish on that younger generation.Froschheiser: “You know, in the book, Michael Caito’s company (Restaurants on the Run Inc.), I look like Grandpa when I walk in to see his company. It’s almost all these young people. And there’s energy in the room. His company, in the last year, he had 30-percent growth over the previous year. And one of their Vital Factors is their profit for delivery. Well, their profit for delivery back in 2001 was like 46 cents. Today, it’s in the $11 range. I mean, it’s phenomenal what they’ve experienced. And they’re young people. I get a kick out of it. There’s so much energy. I’m with you. They’re smart, they’re bright, but they are a different package to manage.”
